The potential role of innovative financing mechanisms in enhancing commodity trade and development, particularly in the agricultural sector, will be the focus of an expert meeting hosted by UNCTAD in Geneva from 16 to 17 November.
Commodity producers and processors need good access to credit in order to be competitive and to invest in new farm assets, technology, post-harvest equipment, processing equipment and the like. Traders need good access to credit to optimize their turnover and keep their transaction costs down. In many developing countries and transition economies, however, access to credit is severely constrained, with most banks only willing to lend against certain fixed assets and on relatively unfavourable terms. This is a serious impediment to development that hampers worldwide efforts to reduce poverty, given that most of the world´s poor are commodity producers.
But a quiet revolution is taking place, particularly in agricultural lending, similar to what happened with microfinance in the 1990s. New modes of delivering credit to producers, processors and traders are being tested with different approaches in various countries, from agricultural credit cards and joint ventures between banks and cooperatives to IOUs that farmers can sell on the market to fund their input purchases. Experts at this week´s meeting, including the heads of agricultural banks from such countries as Tanzania, France, the Philippines, Zambia and South Africa, will discuss how to mainstream these approaches, which are proving much more successful than traditional agricultural lending in developing countries and which could help overcome the scepticism of local banks and government about lending to the sector.
Accredited journalists are cordially invited to attend.
From 10 a.m. Tuesday, 16 Nov; Room XXVI, Palais des Nations.
Expert Meeting on Financing of Commodity-based Trade and Development:
| background report | Key issues | Programme |
